Apple Reportedly Buys iCloud Domain for $4.5 Million

Rumors are circulating that Apple has purchased the domain name icloud.com for an estimated $4.5 million.

Technology blogger Om Malik revealed this possibility citing an unnamed source who, he claimed is “familiar with the company”.

Earlier Robin Wautersof TechCrunch claimed to have received a hint about the purchase of the domain name by Apple from the Swedish company Xcerion, which changed the name of its service from iCloud to CloudMe.

Robin Wautersalso contacted Xcerion to learn about the possible causes of their opting for a new name, and whether or not the same could be linked with Apple’s rumored purchase of the iCloud domain name.

The company, in an email sent to Wauters, replied by saying, “We decided we needed a name change to better reflect our new focus on files and storage, where the desktop is just one of many clients to access files and content stored in CloudMe.”

Chances are that Apple has bought the domain name ahead of the launch of an online music streaming service for iTunes, but there have been times in the past where Apple bought domain names that it never used, so it may just be keeping its options open.